WHY YOU CAN'T STOP AT ONE CHEESY FRY

Makeovers for all your favorite comfort foods

Your friends order nachos at happy hour, you tell yourself you'll have just a few...and then you find yourself diving in with abandon.

Sound familiar?

You'll be happy (or disgusted) to learn that your willpower never stood a chance against that gooey plateful of temptation. See, those nachos—and dozens of other sinful eats—have been scientifically engineered to make you want to eat more…and more, says former FDA commissioner David A. Kessler, M.D., in his new exposé, The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite (Rodale, 2009).

Here's how this deviousness works: Human beings have what food-industry insiders call a "bliss point," a nirvana of the taste buds triggered by particular amounts of salt, sugar, and fat. Menu scientists (yes, that's a job!) at popular restaurant chains and packaged-food corporations use their knowledge of the bliss point to manipulate your appetite, adding salt, sugar, and fat to their products in combinations designed to create hedonism on a plate—a taste experience so intense that it kicks the brain's pleasure system into overdrive. It's like a drug. And like any drug, it leads you to obsess about that moment of pleasure so much that you'll do almost anything to prolong or relive it. The result: a bigger bottom line for them—and a bigger waistline for you.

In his book, Kessler identifies the worst restaurant-menu offenders—classics like cheese fries and buffalo wings. Since we think you should be able to indulge a craving without it careening into an eating frenzy, we got chef Kerry Neville, R.D., a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association, to create healthy but satisfying DIY versions of those fat traps. These healthy recipes let you enjoy your favorite snacks without OD'ing on fat, sugar, salt...and guilt.

Cheese Fries
French fries are a high-fat food; the cheese sauce adds still more fat and salt. The potato base is a simple carbohydrate, which the body breaks down into sugar.

Kerry's makeover Slice potatoes, toss them in olive oil and seasonings other than salt (such as black pepper or garlic powder) and bake on a foil-lined cookie sheet at 450˚F until they're tender and brown (about 30 minutes). For a low-fat cheese sauce, whisk 1/4 cup of flour with 1/4 cup of fat-free milk. Then heat another cup of fat-free milk over medium heat. Add the flour/milk mixture and stir until it thickens. Remove from heat and add a dash each of dry mustard, cayenne pepper, and salt and 1/2 cup of low-fat cheddar cheese. Stir until the cheese melts, then pour over the fries.